The Chicago Humanities Festival kicks off a strong lineup for its fall festival next Sunday — a program so strong that tickets have already sold out for several events, including the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize talks with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Thomas Dyja. Don't fret: There's still plenty more to see. Tickets are still available (as of this writing) for the panel discussion honoring Tribune Literary Prize-winner Edward Albee, plus much more. Here's a reading list for a handful of other literary highlights. For details or to explore other events, visit chicagohumanities.org.

The Festival's literary events will lead off with Katherine Boo, author of this National Book Award-winning chronicle of life in a Mumbai slum. Boo spent more than three years documenting the lives of families living in the stranglehold of poverty and corruption. Alex Kotlowitz wrote in Printers Row Journal, "The story of Annawadi simultaneously haunts and inspires. It is a book that needs to be passed along to be read and reread by all of us."

This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz

Junot Díaz returns to Chicago to discuss his latest collection of short stories, "This Is How You Lose Her." The collection follows Yunior, a recurring character in Diaz's work, through a series of failed relationships with women. Those who attended Díaz's Printers Row Book of the Month event last year know that the author's live conversations match the vitality and wit of his writing.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

The family at the center of Rebecca Skloot's best-seller marked a milestone recently: Sixty-two years after Henrietta Lacks' cancer cells were taken from her body — cells that eventually became the subject of more than 74,000 scientific studies — the National Institutes of Health has agreed to allow her family some say in how those cells are used in research. At the festival, Skloot will offer a preview of her forthcoming book, which explores the ethical implications of human-animal relationships.

Complications by Atul Gawande

Since the 2002 publication of "Complications," his first collection of incisive stories, Gawande has explored the gaps created by the limits of medicine and the people who practice it. Aside from his three books, Gawande's Aug. 2, 2010, New Yorker story, "Letting Go: What Should Medicine Do When It Can't Save Your Life," is a must-read.

When Did You See Her Last? by Lemony Snicket

"When Did You See Her Last?" is the second installment in Lemony Snicket's "All the Wrong Questions" series. Grownups who read his "A Series of Unfortunate Events" know his books are littered with wordplay and cultural references more for adults than kids. His events are just as fun.

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